Jon Sofen takes on poker with his unfiltered takes on poker

Take a look around at your local poker room during a busy evening. I bet you only find a handful of women in the crowd. That’s par for the course in most card rooms and at the WSOP these days, and it’s troublesome to the future growth of the game. In the recently completed WSOP…

Chris Ferguson is one of the most despised players in poker and, although I understand the frustration many had with the former WSOP Main Event champion following the 2011 Black Friday scandal at Full Tilt Poker, it’s been more than seven years, and it’s time for everyone to let it go. Many within the poker…

Phil Hellmuth is one of the best poker players ever, arguably the greatest tournament specialist in history. No one can ever take that away from him even if he never wins another WSOP bracelet. But, at this point in his career, he’s simply not that great of a player. He’s become poker’s version of post-2008…

Justin Bonomo is the best no-limit hold’em player in the world. It’s gotten to a point where I’m not sure if that statement is a matter of opinion anymore, or if its an indisputable fact. So far this year, ZeeJustin has won the Super High Roller Bowl in Las Vegas, Super High Roller Bowl China…

For some strange reason that isn’t based on logic, I want to one day see the poker community and Chris Ferguson kiss and make up. But I realize the odds of that happening are about as likely as me winning the Main Event this year, and I won’t even be competing in the tournament. Ferguson,…

The World Series of Poker is great every year, but it’s better with Phil Ivey. The 10-time bracelet winner gave me an early Christmas present when he told PokerNews following his recent tournament win in Montenegro his general plans for the summer. “Yeah, I plan on it,” he said when asked if he will play…

In case you’ve been living under a rock, the US Supreme Court ruled on Monday, May 14, 2018, to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), essentially paving the way for individual states to legalize (or not) sports betting. Immediately after the ruling, I noticed some comments on social media from…

Phil Ivey used to win poker tournaments more frequently than Mel Gibson gets behind the wheel under the influence. These days, he enters a poker tournament about once every time the sun revolves around the earth. But on Sunday, the great one shipped the Triton Super High Roller Short-Deck (Big Blind Ante) in Montenegro, beating…

PokerStars has 99 problems but the b*tch ain’t one. Gordon Vayo, however, is. The 2016 WSOP Main Event runner-up is suing the poker site for $700,000 for refusing to payout his winnings from a 2017 SCOOP event and, regardless of whose side you believe, this is a bad look for PokerStars at a bad time….

Imagine winning a $5 satellite into a major poker tournament, the first one you’ve ever played, and making the final table playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Your opponents include the legendary Patrik Antonius and German star Ole Schemion. You are in a position where if the cards break your way, you could win…